10 December 2015

The mother of a man killed in a terror attack in France has been booed after she wore a headscarf during a public talk, with one attendee saying the atmosphere was “like being at a meeting of the National Front”.

Latifa Ibn Ziaten, whose 30-year-old paratrooper son was one of seven people killed by Mohamed Merah in a series of targeted attacks against Jews and soldiers in Toulouse and Montauban in 2012, was invited to parliament to speak at a conference on secularism.

In the wake of her son’s death, Mrs Ibn Ziaten founded a group in his name to “defend the values of the Republic and secularism,” and wears the headscarf in his memory, Buzzfeed News reported.

When she came to speak at the conference, organised by France’s Socialist Group at the National Assembly (the body that debates France’s laws), Mrs Ibn Ziaten was booed and an audience member – wearing a headscarf – who defended her was also heckled. [The Independent] Read more